Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Bartlett
| Decision Date | 22 July 1940 |
| Docket Number | No. 352.,352. |
| Citation | 113 F.2d 766 |
| Parties | COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. BARTLETT. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Samuel O. Clark, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., and Sewall Key and Warren F. Wattles, Sp. Assts. to Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
J. A. Gerardi, of New York City, (David Boyd Chase and Duncan Edwards, Jr., both of New York City, of counsel), for respondent.
Before L. HAND, AUGUSTUS N. HAND, and CHASE, Circuit Judges.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is the petitioner seeking to review a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals to have determined whether or not certain payments made to the respondent by an insurance company should be included in her gross income for the calendar year 1935.
The respondent was the beneficiary under two policies of insurance issued by the Prudential Insurance Company of America upon the life of her father. They matured by his death. Each policy required the insurance company to pay to a designated primary beneficiary monthly payments certain for 240 months after the death of the insured and to continue such payments during the life of such beneficiary. The respondent was the primary beneficiary under one policy and became the secondary beneficiary under the other upon the death of her mother, the primary beneficiary. During the calendar year 1935 she received monthly payments from the insurance company in accordance with its obligations under the policies. The Commissioner included them in her gross income. The Board of Tax Appeals held that they were exempt from taxation under Sec. 22(b) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1934, which provided that there should be exempt from taxation and not included in gross income, "Amounts received under a life insurance contract paid by reason of the death of the insured, whether in a single sum or otherwise (but if such amounts are held by the insurer under an agreement to pay interest thereon, the interest payments shall be included in gross income); * * *." 26 U.S.C.A.Int.Rev. Code, § 22(b) (1).
The payments are literally within the scope of the statutory exemption. They were received under insurance contracts; they were paid by reason of the death of the insured; and they were not interest payments on amounts held by the insured under an agreement to pay interest thereon. The petitioner attempted to make rather subtle distinctions between what part of the payments might properly be considered an annuity and what might be termed strictly insurance. We cannot readily follow the argument and it seems beside the point...
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...gross income; but that it exempts the whole installment. Commissioner v. Winslow, 1 Cir., 113 F.2d 418, 133 A.L.R. 405; Commissioner v. Bartlett, 2 Cir., 113 F.2d 766; Commissioner v. Buck, 2 Cir., 120 F.2d 775; Allis v. La Budde, 7 Cir., 128 F.2d 838; Kaufman v. United States, 4 Cir., 131 ......
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Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Buck
...that the Congressional intent was not to restrict the exemption in this manner. We, therefore, adhere to our ruling in Commissioner v. Bartlett, 2 Cir., 113 F. 2d 766. The decision of the Board of Tax Appeals is reversed as to the trust income and affirmed as to the annuity 1 Or to have the......
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Allis v. La Budde
...Courts of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits. Commissioner v. Winslow, 1 Cir., 113 F.2d 418, 133 A.L.R. 405; Commissioner v. Bartlett, 2 Cir., 113 F.2d 766; and Commissioner v. Buck, 2 Cir., 120 F.2d 775, decided on June 6, 1941. The defendant seeks to distinguish these cases on thei......
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Kaufman v. United States
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